March 1, 2019

Pediatric Rheumatologist Honoured with Council Award

At its most recent meeting, the College presented its Council Award to Dr. Rayfel Schneider, an international leader in the development of new treatments and standards of care in juvenile arthritis and associated inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Schneider is a staff physician at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, and is currently a Professor of Pediatrics and the Associate Chair (Education) in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. He previously served as the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology at SickKids and as the university’s Pediatric Rheumatology Program Director.

“As a Canadian physician in Ontario, I know full well that I belong to an incredibly privileged group,” he told Council, in accepting the award. “We have the opportunity to engage in meaningful work, with intrinsic value and potentially significant impact. We have the opportunity to journey together, with patients and families, on their most intimate and sometimes vulnerable journeys. And we have the opportunity to be inspired by their courage and resilience,” he said.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Dr. Schneider has built a solid reputation as a devoted and talented physician and is, viewed by peers, co-workers patients and families as being extremely knowledgeable and caring. He is a key contributor to ground-breaking pediatric rheumatology research and is an internationally recognized expert in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Dr. Schneider’s scientific contributions have led to new biologic therapies to manage juvenile arthritis – changing the trajectory and prognosis for young patients through more effective, less toxic treatments.

Read more about Dr. Schneider in the next issue of Dialogue.

Registrar/CEO Report

In her Registrar’s Report, Dr. Nancy Whitmore discussed the College’s goals for 2019. These include improving the timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness of core regulatory functions to create a better experience for patients, the profession, and staff.

In her presentation, Dr. Whitmore noted the following:

• In April, we will launch a new website that will have an enhanced user experience that is engaging, and will provide a fully-responsive user experience across all devices with intuitive navigation.
• The College currently has a five-year low in the number of open complaints.
• We are contacting 90% of complainants within two days of their initial contact with the College. 

Quality Improvement/Quality Assurance

The College is developing a proactive model of quality improvement/quality assurance that will see us move away from traditional random peer assessment and toward a greater use of self-directed learning.

Dr. Sheila Laredo, Chef Medical Advisor, and Dan Faulkner, Deputy Registrar, told Council that tools are now being developed that will allow physicians to benefit from ongoing practice improvement with a self-guided process of learning. One tool in development is a new member orientation module that addresses such issues as social media use and the importance of maintaining boundaries.

“We would use our regulatory powers in a limited way to stimulate learning and optimize practice change,” said Mr. Faulkner.

The tools will be piloted throughout 2019.

Logo Update

Council has approved a new CPSO logo to be used strictly on our new website. The current logo did not meet Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) standards and was not suitable for mobile-friendly website usage. The new logo will appear on the updated website at its launch in April.

Registration Policies 

Council approved several changes to registration policies to allow a more efficient processing of applicants’ requests.

The changes include:

• an amendment to the current policy, “Postgraduate Term for Clinical Fellows”, to permit issuance of a certificate of registration to an International Medical Graduate (IMG) clinical fellow for a period of up to 5 years (currently it is three years), without requiring referral to the Registration Committee;
• enabling staff to register applicants who satisfy the directives without referral to the Registration Committee.

Certain Fees to be Removed from By-Law

Council approved removing certain fees from the By-Law.

The By-Law provided for charging applicants a fee of $15 when the applicant did not provide a criminal record check with their application. Current practice is to require all applicants to arrange for their criminal record check. Accordingly, this fee will be removed from the By-Law.

Applicants will no longer pay a fee for costs related to audits and other activities mandated by the Fairness Commissioner.

Council voted to remove these fees from the Fees By-Law (see below) after the proposed By-Law is circulated to the profession.

Fees By-Law Amendment – Criminal Record Check Fee and Fairness Commissioner Fee

The Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario proposes to make the following By-Law No. 127, after circulation to stakeholders:

By-Law No. 127

1. Subsection 1(e) of By-Law No. 2 (the Fees and Remuneration By-Law) is revoked.

Increase in Costs Ordered in Discipline Hearings 

Physicians who are found to have committed an act of professional misconduct or are found to be incompetent will pay a higher cost for their discipline hearings.

Council voted to raise the tariff rate – the daily cost of conducting a hearing — from $10,180 to $10,370 per day.

Although the amount may seem significant, $10,370 a day represents a conservative estimate of the College’s actual costs of conducting a day of hearing, and a fraction of the actual investigative and legal costs and expenses incurred in conducting an investigation and preparing for a hearing.

Open Consultations

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario values your feedback on policies, regulations, by-laws and other initiatives that are in development, and we invite you to participate in our open consultations.

Materials for each consultation, including instructions for submitting feedback, can be found by clicking on the links below.

Complementary/ Alternative Medicine Policy

We are seeking your input on the current Complementary/ Alternative Medicine (CAM) policy, which sets out expectations for physicians who practise CAM, who don’t offer CAM but have patients who pursue CAM, or who wish to have professional affiliations with CAM clinics, therapies, or devices.

The deadline to provide feedback is May 6, 2019.

Delegation of Controlled Acts Policy

We are seeking your input on the current Delegation of Controlled Acts policy, which sets out expectations for physicians about when and how they may delegate controlled acts, through either direct orders or medical directives. The policy sets out guiding principles to help determine appropriate circumstances for delegation and includes expectations related to quality assurance and ensuring the ongoing competence of any delegate.

The deadline to provide feedback is May 6, 2019.

The feedback received through these consultations will be reviewed and considered in light of the College’s mandate to protect the public. We value your feedback and thank you for participating in these policy reviews.